It was a temperate but windy day when we took a quick walk around the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center and said hello to our waterfowl friends on adjacent Longjohn Slough. Fun day!
Author: Brendan
Likes birding.
We went out on this lovely, slightly chilly March morning to see what we could find. McGinnis Slough near Orland Park was quite fruitful, while Tampier Lake was fine, but was mostly birds we’d seen earlier that morning or yesterday in Chicago.
New Lifers:
- American Wigeon
- Trumpeter Swan
We got a new lifer, the American Wigeon, and it’s the first time we got really good looks at the Bufflehead (though the pic is meh) and the Northern Shoveler.
The highlight of the day was the Sandhill Cranes. When we were back on the trail, one of the cranes landed in the pond right near us, so we were able to see it pretty close (we stayed back, though). It got into a bit of a kerfuffle with some mallards who wanted to hang out nearby.
We found ourselves downtown on the very pleasant early-Spring afternoon of March 8th, so we walked by Lake Michigan for 45 minutes or so. There weren’t many birds in the trees, but we saw a bunch of cuties in the water.
New Lifer:
- Lesser Scaup
We ventured into the snowy wastes for a couple quick outings. Some fun sightings, but no amazing pics. It’s hard to be nimble as a photog when gloved up, and it’s even harder to be nimble when your fingers ice up or your eyes water from the cold. That said, it was still fun to see what feathered friends we could. Here are some highlights:
Rock Run Rookery, 11 Jan 2025
Wicked cold outing with our friends at Will County Audubon. We saw some songbirds in the bushes — American Robin, Downy Woodpecker, and a Song Sparrow. But the real show stoppers were the waterfowl, which we peeped with Jenny’s new scope. These shots are with my camera, which gives a much less dramatic view. No major winners here, but gives you an idea what we saw.
In the water, we spotted Canada Geese, Common Goldeneye, Common Mergansers, Redheads, and Mallards. We also spotted, but didn’t get good pics of, a Hooded Merganser, a Ring-billed Gull, and a Ring-Necked Duck.
McKee Marsh at Blackwell Forest Preserve, 18 January 2025
This walk was kind of a bust, from a photo and bird-watching perspective. The Marsh was almost completely frozen over, and for a while it seemed like we weren’t going to see any birds at all. We did spot two Northern Harriers on the hunt, and I got one good photo of a Black-Capped Chickadee, but otherwise we didn’t see too many of our feathered friends. Additional sightings: Bald Eagle, Canada Geese, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, and a White-Breasted Nuthatch.
Little Red School House Nature Center, 25 January 2025
It was a bit nicer on this late-January morning, so we ventured out to see if any feathered friends might say hello. We expected not to see too many, but the bursting feeders at the Little Red School House brought out a bunch of friends.
We also saw American Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, and a White-Breasted Nuthatch. After our visit to the Little Red School House area, we drove over to Consumer’s Quarry.
Consumer’s Quarry, 25 January 2025
There were almost more people than birds at the quarry. This isn’t to say it was crowded, but rather that it felt pretty avian free. Casual sightings aside, we did spot some Canada Geese, American Coots, and a couple Gadwall, which was a new bird for us! A juvenile Bald Eagle and a chilly-looking Great Blue Heron also put in a appearances.
We took a lovely walk around Fermilab in Aurora, IL this morning. We got there shortly after sunrise, and the lake had hundreds of geese on it.
There were some American Coot as well, and a bunch of ducks.
Then, across a smaller lake, we saw a couple sandhill cranes having what can only be described as a hoedown.
We also saw a bunch of raptors — some Northern Harriers across the lake, a Cooper’s Hawk, a Merlin (lifer) and two Kestrels. Pretty great!
